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June 26, 2004

Hitler Reappears in '04 Campaign, This Time in Bush Ad: "Suddenly, Adolf Hitler has become a bit player in the 2004 presidential campaign. President Bush's campaign Web site is featuring an advertisement casting Senator John Kerry and his allies as a 'coalition of the wild-eyed,' blending clips of former Vice President Al Gore, former Gov. Howard Dean of Vermont and the filmmaker Michael Moore shouting about Mr. Bush. Interspersed twice are images of a shouting Hitler, drawn from a Web spot that MoveOn.org, the Internet advocacy group that runs anti-Bush advertisements, briefly posted months ago in a contest for advertisements about the president."

The Bush ad is here. It's an amazing commercial -- it actually quotes Bush saying God "instructed" him to go to war against Iraq. I can hardly believe this got past the initial brainstorm stage, let alone actually produced and released. These people have truly lost their minds. Dear Bush Campaign: please show this ad everywhere. Thank you. ... You can see the two MoveOn "Bush in 30 Seconds" contest entries that used Hitler here. I'm willing to bet the Bush campaign did not obtain legal permission to use those ads.

Remember the fuss the Republicans made over the MoveOn ads? Ed Gillespie, chairman of the Republican National Committee called them "the worst and most vile form of political hate speech" and unfit for television. Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Virginia) called them "hate-mongering," adding "I'm disgusted by the casual use of Hitler by liberal Democrats and groups such as MoveOn.org."... I wonder when Messers. Gillespie and Cantor will express their disgust over this new Bush ad.